


Over the Garden Wall: The Grist Mill

by earthkidsareweird



Series: Over the Garden Wall But With Reddie [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon & Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Over the Garden Wall Fusion, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier-centric, M/M, Mike Hanlon Deserves Nice Things, Minor Bill Denbrough/Richie Tozier, Out of Character Pennywise (IT), Richie Tozier is a Good Friend, Slow Build, The Unknown (Over the Garden Wall)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:47:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22533490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earthkidsareweird/pseuds/earthkidsareweird
Summary: Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak are very, very lost. So lost they don't even remember how they got there as they make their way through the Unknown where they meet a mysterious woods person named Mike Hanlon who is chopping down trees and warning them about something that is lurking out there or how he describes the situation: "You shouldn’t be here, not with It afoot"It's Over the Garden Wall but with Reddie and only Part 1 for now.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: Over the Garden Wall But With Reddie [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1621285
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	1. I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We first meet Eddie and Richie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sort of character list:
> 
> Eddie=Writ (ish)  
> Richie=Greg (ish)  
> Bev=Beatrice  
> Mike=Woodsman  
> Beast=Pennywise
> 
> Bill is mentioned.

# I.

“Do I really need to start listing all the things that can happen to you from touching the frog? Because I will! I really will!” Eddie rants as his little watch starts to beep letting him know he needs to take his medicine but when he looks into his fanny pack. Nothing is there. And they’re lost. All he has is his inhaler and some bandaids. Eddie looks over at Richie Tozier who is holding a frog in front of his face, a giant frog, which makes the situation worse. Frogs shouldn’t be this big. “Hey! Richie! I’m talking to you.”

The two of them are lost somewhere in overgrown woods, which is weird because there’s not a whole lot of trees in Derry unless you were in the Barrens and these sure weren't Barrens trees. To be honest, Eddie can’t think how they ended up there. He vaguely recalls a fight in a graveyard then that’s the end of that. They were supposed to go out for Halloween, got their messages crossed, went in different directions, Eddie learned Richie’s secret then things sort of spiraled out of control. Yet for some reason, Richie plucked a pet frog up along the way. Eddie can’t remember if this was before the graveyard, in the graveyard, or after the graveyard nor why they’d hang out in a graveyard.

Eddie looks to see Richie is in fact, not even listening to him all because Richie faces him putting the frog closer to his face.

Richie speaks up in an unknown accent, “Oh gawd, looking at your chawming chewrub face!”

“What the fuck, Richie?” Eddie side steps in a slight attempt to avoid him. There’s not a lot of space for them to walk beside one another on the path though unless he wanted to fall off the path where poison ivy probably looms.

It’s as if Eddie isn’t upset about the frog friend and Richie holds the frog closer and closer to Eddie’s face even as he tries to lean away. “I’ve sure been a naughty boy. Only a kiss can cure me!”

“Richie! No!” Eddie puts one finger up. “Salmonella! That’s why. That’s number one on my list of diseases from frogs. Hope you’re ready to hear more because-because you will, hear a lot more!”

“You won’t help meeeee? The frog prince?!” Richie forces his frog friend to kiss Eddie who looks as if he’s about to puke from this. He runs off crashing into some bushes where he heaves. “That’s frickin’ wicked!”

“I don’t even think that means what you think it means.”

“No true lawves kiss! I’m still a frog!”

“Richie! I swear! I’m going to kill you!” Eddie is about to stop when a little bird flies out of the bushes almost into his face. But he falls backward into the branches yelling. “Avian flu! That can be avian flu! Or feather lice! And poison ivy!”

The little blue bird glares at him while fluttering in front of me. “First, feather lice? What does that mean? Second!” The bird turns her attention to Richie who is gawking at her. A fucking talking bird! He almost blurts but she gets to the point. “Second, you shut up! You’re giving me a headache!”

“You’re giving me a headache!” retorts Eddie. “With all the talking!”

The overall situation was already too weird. 

Again recap: The two of them had been wandering through the woods where all the trees were super crooked and a large path cut through them in the middle. It was hard to make out the sky but appeared to be getting darker. Neither Eddie nor Richie could remember how they got there or when they started walking through the woods, but there they were and now a little bluebird was yelling at them. Richie was still dressed up as Ted from _Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure_ while Eddie regretted his earlier choice of insisting on being a vampire from _The Lost Boys_. He didn’t quite look the part and felt too hot in the leather jacket he wore. He attempted to spike his hair, but it was all flat by that point. Also, prior to leaving the house, he forgot how Richie insisted he be the Bill to his Ted.

“Now what are you two even doing out here?” the bird asks.

“Walking home?” replies Richie.

“Are we?”

“I don’t know, are you?” the bird asks. “I can’t answer that.”

“This-This doesn’t make sense! Birds can’t talk! Birds are diseased creatures!”

The bird lands on a branch closer to Eddie. “I’ll have you know I don’t have any diseases.”

Richie hugs his frog while staring at her attempting to piece this nonsense together. “I think we’re lost, Mister Bird.”

“I’m not a Mister Bird! My name is Beverly!”

“Ok, Beverly,” retorts Richie. “I still think we’re lost.”

Beverly rolls her tiny bird eyes at this and shakes her head. “And am I supposed to do something about this?”

“Yes?” Richie looks to Eddie.

“ _Richie_. . .birds can’t help people!”

“What he said.” Beverly is about to fly away. She lifts up hovering there as she looks down at them. “Guess I’ll see you, boys, around then, but you shouldn’t be out here at night.” Without further explanation, she flies away from them past all those arching branches and she’s gone.

Both Richie and Eddie stay put staring up after her not noticing snapping branches behind them. It really is getting darker out without any sign on where to go or where to turn. Eddie turns about to say something to Richie only to lose his voice and his breath. His lungs shrivel up because they’re not alone. Nope. Not at all. Richie mouths a what to him before turning around to see some other kid is standing there with a lantern in hand even though it’s not super dark out yet and an ax.

“Why are you here?” he asks.

“Um. . .we’re walking home,” replies Richie.

“You shouldn’t be here, not with It afoot,” continues the kid.

“It?” Richie and Eddie ask in unison causing Eddie to blush at this.

“So we’re lost?” says Richie, he means it as a fact and not a question mark.

The kid looks around, the lantern casts a huge shadow around them with the sinking sun. “I’m Mike Hanlon, and you are?”

“Eddie Kasprack.”

“Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan.”

“That’s not true,” mutters Eddie. “His name is Richie Tozier.”

“Eds, you don’t go around telling strangers your name. That’s how you die.”

But Mike isn’t ready to wait around and tolerate this. His focus flits around the area yet there is no sign of anything coming just shadows reaching out to them like trees are about to claw at their faces. Eddie inches a tiny bit closer to Richie even though he has the frog, the frog that might cause him salmonella.

Mike signals for them to follow him. “You should follow me, you’re more lost than you think.” With this Mike leads the way, off the main path. Eddie mutters under his breath about poison ivy each time they pass a strange-looking plant or almost trip over a tree root. Up ahead, there’s a building that looks as if it’s about to tumble face-first into the ground. Somebody once made it of stone, but those stones weren’t ready to stick together much longer. Mike glances at them, “Welcome to the Unkown.”


	2. II.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike takes them to the grist mill where Richie and Eddie bicker then creepiness ensues.

# II.

Richie never really wondered if squirrels could be evil, but then he learned birds could talk and they were lost in some “Unknown.” He looks at some squirrels perched on a branch glaring at him all while Eddie quietly follows Mike Hanlon towards a crooked building among crooked trees, nothing appears to be straight here, which Richie almost chuckles at yet some owl flew by startling him. The owl stares at him before disappearing into the shadows. Fucking birds. The sun is down and Mike’s lantern doesn’t help much. Richie almost trips over a few rocks.

“You don’t seriously live here, right?” he asks rubbing his elbow, not that he hit it just some anxiety is prickling inside him. Sort of like when you sit on your feet for too long and the blood stops and it feels like ants, ants are in your feet, crawling up into your pants. Just this is in his chest instead and maybe he needs an inhaler like Eddie ‘cause asthma just might be contagious. Weird thing is Eddie never said anything about that. Maybe he was too busy ranting about his frog friend bringing salmonella into their lives.

Mike stops, they’re pretty close to the building. Now that they’re a lot closer it’s actually some old mill. The kind that might attract a headless horseman if Sleepy Hollow were into that sort of thing. “For now.”

“For now?” retorts Richie. He laughs a little at this looking at Eddie still rubbing his shoulder. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You moving out or something?”

Mike shrugs. “It’s. . .complicated. I just have a job I need to do until somebody comes back.”

“Who?”

“My dad.”

Richie rolls his eyes. “You got to be shitting me! If he left you in the middle of the woods, I don’t think he’s coming back. It’s basically where all the unwanted kids are sent to be eaten by witches.”

“Beep, beep, Richie,” Eddie snaps.

“ _What_? It’s a fucking fact.”

Mike ignores most of this and carries on holding his lantern, they come a lot closer to the mill. A little stream winds past it, moving its way past the mill’s wheel. It’s not moving and there’s no lights on the inside. Not until Mike gets inside lighting a fire and he puts his lantern down without putting it out. At least the fire is warm. Richie and Eddie stand close to the doorway watching him. To be honest, neither of them noticed how cold it got out there.

“I actually found this place abandoned,” comments Mike.

“You’re not really making a good argument for yourself,” says Richie and Eddie jabs his elbow into his side. “What the fuck?” He rubs his ribs and glares at Eddie. “We should probably get going. Do you like know where civilization exists? Because that’s where I’m going.”

Mike stands there all quiet for a few seconds really thinking over his words. This leaves Eddie and Richie there looking around at how there’s not much around them. A mattress is on the ground without a bed frame to hold it up. Some straw is sticking out and there are barrels just sitting around. Not a stove or anywhere to cook.

“So your dad just left you out here?” Eddie says as he gawks at the sparseness around them. “My mother would never do that to me.”

“Congrats,” mutters Mike. He leans forward a little to look into his lantern, the flame inside looks as if it might flicker out in the near future. “I um have some work to do.”

When Mike turns around to face them again, Eddie blurts, “I didn’t mean it like that. Just my mom is a little. . .” Richie opens his mouth about to say something but before he can say some stupid shit, Eddie slaps a hand over his mouth and finishes his own sentence “. . . _overwhelming_.”

As if this conversation never continued, Mike points at the mattress on the floor. “You should get comfortable and stay awhile.”

“Um no, we really need to get going,” Richie does say pushing Eddie’s hand away after he licks his palm. Eddie wrinkles his nose wiping spit off his hand. “So point out the best way and we’ll be on our way.”

“You really don’t want to be out there with It walking around.”

“So you said something like that earlier then didn’t even explain, could you. . .like explain this time?”

Mike instead looks at his lantern, it’s still about to go out. He looks back up at Eddie and Richie. “You’re right, I owe you a story, but first, I really got to make sure this light doesn’t go out. Please. Trust me.”

“Ok, stranger, I trust you,” comments Richie. “Not.”

“Yeah,” is all Eddie says.

“Thanks.” Mike sort of smiles at them and exits the building to go out and do something. He did at least stop in the doorway for a split second to say, “See you soon.”

Richie collapses onto the mattress, straw bursts through some seams as he lies there. “Check it out, one room, one bed.” But this doesn’t get a reaction from Eddie at all so instead Richie mimics Eddie, poorly but it’s somewhat obvious (but really not at all). “I’m Eddie and I made us get lost in the creepy woods.” Eddie kicks his foot. “We just gotta get more and more lost in these creepy woods rather than like drink in the graveyard like all the normal kids.”

“Richie, who the fuck drinks in a graveyard?” Eddie moves away to look out the doorway, it’s pretty dark out there and maybe it’d be a lot darker if it weren’t for an almost full moon already rising up.

“Bill does.” Richie sits up. “You know, Stutterin’ Bill, he hangs out and drinks in graveyards.”

Eddie scowls at Richie. “Shut up!”

“What? I just stated a fact.” Richie pauses and looks around. “Hey, where’d Kitty go?”

“What? What are you even talking about? Also since when do you hang out with Bill out of all people and in _graveyards_? That’s a lie, right? Right. Or do you?” Eddie comes back inside but Richie isn’t really paying any attention to this so Eddie waves in his face. “Hey? I asked you a question.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever thinly veiled jealousy something, I gotta find Kitty.” Richie pops back up to his feet.

“Thinly veiled jealousy? What are you talking about? Why would I be jealous of a cat? You don’t even have a cat.”

Richie smirks and pushes his glasses back a bit. “Kitty is the frog, you know, the salmonella dispenser.”

“Oh. Wait. Why would I be jealous of. . .”

Except Richie is gone leaving Eddie behind who starts to push some straw back into the mattress. He leans back, twiddles his thumbs around in absolute boredom without Richie or Mike around. Again he grumbles to himself. “I hate cats. Why would I be jealous of a cat? Let alone a fucking. . .frog?” He gets up and moves to slam the door shut that Richie left open only for something to catch his attention. More salmonella crawling around, a little black turtle crawls away from him at such an unsettling slow face. The entire turtle is pitch black disappearing from sight once it touches a shadow.

Eddie is no expert on turtles, but he felt as if turtles like that don’t exist. Then again, they saw a talking bird earlier. He takes a few steps outside the mill house as if that’ll help him get a better look at the turtle. The black turtle appears to be super gone. The door croaks as it closes, not a decent sound. 

“Shit!” Eddie runs back going to grab the doorknob but it’s closed by the time he gets there and locked. “What the fuck?” Even though he knows nobody else is inside, Eddie starts to bang on the door. He raises his voice a bit. “Hey! Hey! The door! The door is locked!” No response. He’s alone stuck in between shadows and no light to help him through them. It’s just the moon there to help out. Eddie keeps a hold on the doorknob looking around the area again and again. “Hey! The door is locked AND there s a fire inside! That’s dangerous! That’s how people die! Not that I’ll die because I’m outside!”

Another little black turtle creeps past him almost touching his toes before disappearing like the first. Eddie is about to say something when five more our there, crawling around. The fuck? Eddie sighs. His watch goes off again letting him know its time to take his meds and his meds aren’t there because they’re stuck somewhere called the unknown and it’s probably all his fault. He wants to say it’s Richie and it’s Richie’s fault that it’s his fault they’re all out there.

Another small black turtle joins the rest so Eddie shouts at the woods, “Richie?!”

“Hiya Eds!”

“Jeez! Stop calling me Eds!” he yells right away. Of course, the little turtles make their way after Richie’s voice. He’s out there probably looking too much for his stupid frog that’s apparently named Kitty? “Just. Stop.”

“Over here, Eds!”

Eddie makes cautious steps in Richie’s direction only to notice a few more black turtles crawling towards them and making their way forward in the same direction as him. Creepy, creepy turtles in the creepy woods. This was getting dumber by the second. 

Again Eddie shouts, “Really! Stop calling me Eds! Seriously!” 

He makes his way from the crooked building towards the crooked trees with most of their branches leaning over into the ground means more moonlight is available to him and more moonlight means less shadows, which means it’ll be easier to find Richie because Mike took the only lantern and appears to be MIA still. Except he pauses even with such little light something else catches his attention. There are four red balloons caught in some branches, they’re bobbing above his head without anybody around to have lost them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, I need to stop starting new things but...I really enjoyed this and I hope you do too. If so, drop a comment.


	3. III.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monster Dog attacks.

# III.

It would start singing soon as they did each and every single night.

And whenever It sang, they sounded like some opera singer who somehow became lost among the trees.

Opera music is a genre Mike cannot stand. Something about all the drama and the emotion spilling out in fabulism struck a wrong chord in his heart. Mike stands close to the door by the mill’s big wheel looking out at the trees. It should be singing out there but It is quiet tonight.

Not good.

Mike drops a needle down on some sort of phonograph. Garbled sound starts to play as some music from some old Hollywood film starts to play. The sort about times of war reminding him, _You must remember this_. Mike continues to look at the wood while the light grows a whole lot dimmer inside there. He can’t let the light die, he can’t let it go. He’s about to close the door all the way when movement catches his eye. It’s the one kid, the loud one with the black glasses that are too close to his face. He’s out there keeping away from the water and closer to the mill as he does one of those whisper shouts in search of a cat, which is weird because Mike can’t remember them coming in with a cat. A frog because that’s an obvious difference compared to a regular person.

The kid is out there though still doing his whisper shout of “Kitty? Kitty! Kitty? Pst, pst, pst Kitty! I don’t believe in salmonella.”

What a strange choice of faith considering how real salmonella is in this world. Mike partially closes the door turning to push gears into motion to finish his job for the day. It does, the wheel creaks forward, sounding like an old person moving with all their joints cracking as they moved along. Mike watches the lantern ignoring the mill as it moves and moves and creaks and creaks allowing a black liquid to move out. Its the door that ribbits, not the frog. Mike snaps his attention around to see the kid there watching with his nose all wrinkled like a little rodent some distant character comparison pops into mind for Mike. A rat puppet? No. Not a puppet. Or. Close. No.

“Can you close the door for me?” asks Mike.

“Um sure, no problem, stranger,” comments Richie without closing the door.

“I’m not a stranger.”

“Um yeah, it’s the definition to _I don’t know you_.”

Mike has to move though to move some vials close to collect the black liquid. “I’m Mike, I told you that.”

“Right.” Richie leaves without closing the door, he backs away looking to the phonograph which clicks on a new song, which catches only Mike off guard. He can’t focus on the black liquid and the lantern and Richie and the phonograph. The machine isn’t supposed to play that. Not opera but classical music as a garbled choir plays for them, there’s a fury in them yet sounds slowed down. He points at the phonograph. “Dies Irae, weird.”

“What?” Mike says focusing on Richie for a second. Those words sound too smart for him even with such big glasses. 

“The song.” Richie shrugs. “That’s the name of the song. You know like _The Shining?” Richie lifts a finger and wriggles it there going in a little kid's voice, “Redrum! Redrum! Redrum_!”

Mike shakes his head and returns to salvage what he can. “I’m busy anyway!”

“Right.” Richie knocks on the door frame and starts to close the door. “It’s about a family that moves to the middle of nowhere to live in a hotel that like posses the dad making him murder.”

But Mike says nothing and Richie closes the door realizing how dark it is. Even with a barrier between him and the phonograph sounds so loud like it’s shouting for attention far underneath water. Speaking of water, Richie ends up making his way towards the stream that runs through the mill.

“Kitty? Hey! Kitty?” Richie yells getting close only to spot a trembling barrel, which almost falls over. He sprints to it bending down to see the frog in there. “Oh hey Kitty, what big eyes you have.” This he sort of snickers at somewhere he hears Eddie shouting for him. Richie leans back a little and shouts in the direction. “Just! Hold on a minute!” Again Eddie yells sounding like he’s going a different direction and Richie sits back without catching his frog. “Um Eds?” Nothing else.

Kitty ribbits distracting Richie from wherever Eddie just went. He looks down again at the barrel helping the frog out and goes to stand up when he notices the music is gone, replaced by growls, chances are whatever Mike is listening to doesn’t have that recorded. Richie hugs the frog a little tighter as he slowly rises to his feet to have a running chance while looking at the ground for a stick or a rock or anything he can use fast for battle.

The growl fades away. Past the sounds, there is somebody singing like actually singing in between trees. Not that Richie can see. He takes his glasses off for a sec then puts them back on, it doesn’t help because it’s just dark out and his prescription is shit.

“HEY MIKE?” Richie yells. “DO WOLVES EXIST HERE?” He backs a little away from the sound accidentally stomping on something. “I thought wolves were. . .extinct?! I don’t know how animals work.” No response. Whatever he stomped on crinkles underneath his weight. No Mike. No Eddie. The second is worse. He shouts out. “EDS?!” Nothing. Nadda. No response. It’s him, Kitty, and maybe a wolf.

Richie takes another step back noticing something on the ground which had been underneath his foot. He plucks it off the ground not sure why he’s looking at himself. Some embarrassing black and white photo from picture day. It made his mom so mad that she cried because he wore some obnoxiously bright Hawaiin shirt with a _Street Fighter_ shirt underneath all when she wanted him to look ‘nice’ by her standards. It says Missing above his photo with his name as in just Richard Tozier except the contact information, that’s not his mom, just the police. Even with his dad being around, it made sense he wouldn’t pop up there.

Just it’s all quiet out there or close to being quiet cause, there are leaves shifting in the wind, a creek making some sound, and whoever is out there singing. Even Eds is gone, which makes no sense. He’d been shouting for his attention only to go the opposite way.

“GUYS?”

Nothing.

“EDDIE?”

Nothing.

Richie holds onto Kitty with one hand while clinging to the missing poster in his other hand he realizes there’s stuff on the trees. When he moves a little closer it's another. This time Eddie’s staring back at him, but found. Not right. Not right at all. They were together. They got lost together. They got lost together and as Eddie kept pointing out it’s all his fault.

It looks as if most of the trees have Eddie posters on them for everybody to see. All with handwriting on them to let him know, Eddie’s been found. Him though. Just police contact info and one that had been on the ground.

“So guys, this isn’t funny! And I know funny, I’m funny.” Richie looks all around but he’s still alone. “Eddie? Eds?! Eddie Spaghetti!”

A quick light captures his attention. Something is out there. Fuck. Richie backs away to head in the direction Eddie went even with Mike being closer. He catches the sounds of the phonograph again as the same song plays and he keeps moving around holding Kitty to his chest and releasing the missing poster only to find another in front of him. Actually, there’s a lot of him. Missing. Missing. Missing. Richard Trashmouth Tozier is missing, according to him he’s maybe been missing for two weeks. There’s not even a precise date, unlike Eddie. Eddie who has and found and he can’t even be sure if that’s better or worse for Eddie considering his mom.

“Eddie? I think we should go! EDS?!” Not even the usual _Stop calling me Eds_.

His words are cut off thanks to not-a-wolf, but a monster dog that leaps out of the shadows at him. 

“OH! FUCK!” screams Richie and he starts to run and isn’t sure where to run but inside seems cool. 

Animals don’t belong inside so why would the monster dog follow him. At a glance, he can see the dog’s eyes, they’re glowing thanks to the moonlight and for some reason, the wolf appears to have some old ripped uniform on, which almost gets him to stop to make a better observation.

The whole time he keeps Kitty close and crashes into the door, it’s closed and won’t open so he tries again and it really won’t open and again he tries and tries like it’s going to change. The creature is so close. He can feel the creature’s growl and instead drops down to free Kitty behind a little bush there at the door. He goes to crawl back to his feet but the dog is too close and he’s more on all fours making a better attempt to run off when a rock almost hits him in the face. If it hit, he would’ve lost his glasses. 

Another rock fell by him, but only after it hit the dog in the face. Eddie’s there. He’s standing not too far away from Richie throwing rocks at the dog and Richie grabs onto one of them and keeps holding it as he does his best to punch the dog in the face only to realize the wolf has some old football jacket from Derry High School. He just misses the creature’s face almost falling face first. There’s some shouting behind them as Mike runs out with his lantern, which glows a lot brighter.

“NO!” Mike shouts.

The door is still locked, but it doesn’t matter because it shatters upon impact as the dog bursts through. Richie stands pushing his glasses back for a bit, they need to be cleaned because he could have sworn the jacket said his name and he’d never played a sport before in his life except for dodgeball once until somebody hit him in the face with a ball breaking his glasses and his mom cried when she found out.

“STOP!” Mike continues to shout with Eddie ignoring this. He sprints inside screaming the whole time with a stick in his hands, which looks more like a long twig. “HE’S NOT! HE’S NOT REAL! THIS ISN’T REAL!” Mike runs inside after Eddie and the dog leaving Richie alone outside. Somebody continues to sing behind him. 

It’s not like Richie is distracted for long. He looks back spotting something moving through the woods other than lost papers of his missing poster. Whatever the movement is, is singing out there. He almost thinks about stepping forward after whatever it is. It stops. He manages to keep his feet rooted to the ground because wow, how fucking stupid it would be if he were to run out there with some football playing wolf trying to kill him wearing a coat with his name.

Crashing sounds basically awakens him. He shakes his head and whirls around about to race into the mill. Already he’s shouting, “EDDIE!” Because it looks like fire is shooting out the one window as Eddie and Mike dive out mainly thanks to Mike’s help. This time Richie shouts, “KITTY!” He manages to scoop the frog off the ground and has to back away before glass hits him as a window explodes.

Richie comes to stand beside Eddie watching as it all falls down and there’s no sign of the dog, which is weird because Richie is sure he can see scraps of the jacket burning up there. Mike collapses as he stares at all it mouthing some nonsense, his words don’t make it through whatever shock he’s in until Richie looks over at him and say, “Wow that sucks.”


	4. IV.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike's pretty upset then Richie and Eddie find themselves back to being lost.

# IV.

“GO!” snaps Mike while shaking his head.

If it weren’t for the mill burning down, it’d be a lot darker. His lantern is gone, nowhere to be seen. Richie looks at the building thinking maybe he should ask what he meant about it all not being real because that monster dog was real, he felt its breath, could feel to stink and was sure there were scrapes somewhere on his back or thigh or something.

“What was that?” Eddie asks Mike.

“Leave!” is Mike’s response. “Please! Just leave! You ruined everything!

“What are you talking about?! Where? There’s nowhere to fucking to go and that thing is out there!” retorts Richie.

Mike looks like he’s about to back down and sob. He keeps sitting there watching it burn.

“Should we. . .call the fire department?” asks Eddie. “We really should call the fire department.”

“Oh my God! I SAID GO! GO!” Mike screams jumping up as he glares at them. “You-You’ve ruined everything! You don’t even know! Everything! It’s ruined! It’s your fault!”

“My dad says that a lot,” responds Richie with a chuckle as he looks and smiles at Eddie who shakes his head. “I made that up, we actually don’t really talk.”

“Shut up, Richie!” Eddie snaps. “Jeez!”

Mike still stands there and points at a side path. “Just go! Ok? Please! Go! Please?”

Only Eddie nods and signals for Richie to move away from the scene. But Richie keeps standing there forcing Eddie to pull him along, to drag him off onto the path letting Mike sink down to sit there staring at the burning mill.

“I don’t think he wants us to leave,” Richie whispers to Eddie.

“Shut up!” Eddie pushes him along without looking back. He’s pretty close to Richie making sure he’s moving along the whole time leaving behind the collapsing burning building. “We gotta go! We gotta go home.”

Mike remains behind sitting there with little black turtles crawling closer to him. Not good. He watches as the building continues to burn while shaking his head still close to tears. The lantern is gone and he’s not sure if he can find the words to mention a single thought on that loss. What’s gone is really gone now. Gone is gone.

It is out there singing some opera song again. The sound creeps toward him. It’s coming. Mike looks down the trail unable to make out where Eddie or Richie went or even how long they were gone. So much bad. Mike wraps his arms around his legs while sitting before the burning down mill with the lantern being super gone. There’s just It singing with those turtles crawling around everywhere, some papers creep across the ground and a red balloon is caught in the tree. 

There’s no way any of this could end well.

###

For a change, Richie says nothing. Eddie looks at him a few times while they walk side-by-side, their feet almost in sync. The moon rises a lot higher in the sky as it gets to be way too late. Still Richie comments on nothing while hugging his frog friend.

“We should maybe stop?” Eddie says. “Sleep deprivation kills. You know that right?”

Richie doesn’t even look over at Eddie. He looks up at the sky like it’s going to tell him it’s two or three in the morning.

“Are you listening to me, Richie?”

Richie looks at him. “Oh yeah, sleep death. Sounds cool.”

“Sounds bad,” Eddie corrects and stops. Richie does, too. “Something wrong?”

“We’re like really lost, like really, really, super fucking lost. We’re the most lost of the lost to ever be lost. We have the record of being lost.”

“Humans can go without food and water for about three weeks. We need that, too, with sleep, and a map.”

Richie shrugs. “I don’t think we know how to read a map.”

“I know how to read a map, I can navigate.”

“Navigate what? Your mom?”

Eddie rolls his eyes and points at an empty spot beside the path and the two of them sit leaning against a tree. Richie uses the sweatshirt he had tied around his waist to serve as a blanket for both of them not that it helps. It really only covers a leg each.

“Do you think our parents know we’re missing?” Richie randomly comments.

“Oh yeah, my mom definitely does. She probably called the police after thirty minutes of me being gone. I just told her I was going to the store to pick up my inhaler then didn’t come back.”

“My parents?”

Eddie laughs. “Hilarious.” He leans back a little more. “Thanks for the fake blanket.”

Richie doesn’t move, just sits and stares at Eddie. “Oh yeah, no problem.”

“We go home tomorrow?” Eddie is lying there looking up at him.

“Yeah,” says Richie. “I mean. .. how far can we be from home?” 

And Richie looks out around them at all those crooked trees. Kitty is next to him, fast asleep. Sounds like Eddie is asleep soon by the way he breathes. A classic owl hoot interrupts the silence. So much for light pollution, because it doesn’t appear like they’re by Derry or any city or town at all. 

“Maybe we’re just dead,” Richie whispers, forgetting Eddie’s already asleep. He looks down to see for sure Eddie is asleep. He tries to lie down beside Eddie. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Not dead because that’d fucking blow if we were dead.” Still unable to sleep, Richie lies there staring up at a squirrel who glares at him from a branch. If squirrels really turn out to be evil, that would also suck real bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaand that's a wrap for now. I might come back and do a few more edits, but other than that weird pumpkin town is next as we slowly meet more Losers and have Mike make a come back.
> 
> If you enjoyed this in any sort of way, pls comment even if it is just a smile I will smile.
> 
> Thanks!


End file.
